Microsoft slammed for iPhone FUD

Is Redmond running scared?

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Microsoft is so worried by the arrival of the Apple iPhone that it's spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) about the product. Or so said Marketcircle CEO Alykhan Jetha in a blog post written yesterday.

Marketcircle is a leading business software developer, chiefly notable for its Mac-only Daylite and Billings programs.

Jetha was responding to comments made by Microsoft exec Chris Sorensen who said that the iPhone wasn't business-friendly and that its 'closed' operating system made it impossible to use with Microsoft apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Mac OS X already trumps Windows

"The one thing that they seem to forget is that the iPhone has the multi-tasking Mac OS X at its core. Mac OS X already trumps Microsoft's Desktop OS, never mind their mobile OS," says Jetha.

"You can already read MS Word documents with Mac OS X out of the box using TextEdit. As a developer, I can tell you the .doc reading capabilities are right in Cocoa. You can open PowerPoint documents in Keynote and I'm sure Apple has something up their sleeve for Excel documents."

More consumer than enterprise

"The small business market is a different story. And we all know that there are more consumers and small business users than there are enterprise users."

The iPhone is more than capable enough for most business users, Jetha argues. Users can always ask for a PDF version of a file if they can't read MS Word or MS Excel documents. Native PDF support is built-in into Mac OS X.

"When the time is right and the economics make sense, I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts [sic] that Apple will have a process of getting third party apps on the iPhone.

Choice not coercion

"So again - why is the iPhone is the most important small business phone? Because more business users will use it because they want to use it, instead of being forced to use it. [Jetha's emphasis]